Asks that referee of his [Catasetum] paper be informed that if it is ordered to be printed he will borrow woodcuts. But if referee thinks fit, he will withdraw it, for almost all will be published in Orchids. He is not willing to spare time to condense it.

Transcription

Down

March 18th.—

My dear Sir

Will you be so good as to inform the Referee, to whom my paper may be referred, that, if it be ordered to be printed, I will endeavour to borrow from Mr Murray the two or three woodcuts, which would be almost necessary.— If, however, the Referee thinks fit, I will withdraw the paper, as nearly the whole will appear in my small work on the Fertilisation of Orchids. Or I could strike out as much as the Referee should think fit.— I am, however, not willing to spare the time to condense the whole.—

The year is established by the reference to CD's paper on Catasetum tridentatum, read before the Linnean Society of London on 3 April 1862.

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f2 3477.f2

The woodcuts used in CD's paper, `Three sexual forms of Catasetum tridentatum', were those of C. tridentatum, Myanthus barbatus, and Monachanthus viridis prepared for publication in Orchids (see Orchids, pp. 232 and 239). John Murray, CD's publisher, had possession of the woodcuts, since Orchids was then in press.